Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Textile designer Tracy Feldman designed a yarn bomb for the
Maritime Explorium children’s museum incorporating the museum’s bright logo
colors, a nautical theme and a 4’ crochet seahorse named Portia and a 4’
octopus named Jeffrey. These crochet sea creatures were named in honor of the
village of Port Jefferson, NY where they are located.

10
ladies crocheted the design from March to early June 2016. The crocheters include
Tracy and her mother Lorraine who worked on Portia the seahorse, another mother
and daughter team (Jean and Kelly Bodami) who crocheted Jeffrey the octopus and
other expert crocheters.

The
Portia and Jeffrey Yarn Bomb is made with over 10,000 yards of Bonnie Braid
yarn. 6mm yarn was used on the columns. Portia uses 6mm orange, turquoise,
sapphire and white yarn, and she is made with triple crochet and single crochet
stitches. Jeffrey was made using 4mm orange yarn, his suctions cups are magic
circles made with 2mm white yarn. It took the crocheters approximately 500
hours total to create and install the design.

For
the large white portions of the columns, 2 skeins of yarn were crocheted
together to made yards of white chain stitches that create a nautical rope
design element that works well on the tapered columns. The crocheters started
with a size P or Q hook and quickly opted to use their fingers to crochet the
white chain so it would twist less and lay flatter on the columns.

The
royal, turquoise and orange color blocked pieces were made with single crochet
stitches. Half double crochet stitches were used for the sunshine yellow
stripes and thin white stripes between the colors. Simple stitch work maximizes
the bold burst of colors visitors will see from any direction when walking in
the village.

No
hardware or special supplies were needed to secure the exhibit to the columns,
only Bonnie Braid yarn was used for the yarn bomb. The pieces were crocheted,
fitted and sewn very tightly to work with the column’s carvings and
architecture, and prevent sagging. Portia is lightly stuffed with pieces of
plastic bags to fill her out a bit.

Jeffrey is stuffed with plastic bags
filled with cut up pool noodles that were wrapped in orange plastic table
cloths so orange and not thestuffing would not show through the stitches as he
was molded into shape.

In
addition to the building’s crochet pieces, this yarn bomb has 2 brightly
colored covers accenting the flowers in the larger square planter boxes. The
box covers are made with 6mm yarn and are half double crochet.

The
Portia and Jeffrey Yarn Bombed was created for the June 4, 2016 Maker Faire the
museum hosted and will run through summer 2016 or longer. The Maritime
Explorium is located near the ferry terminal at 101 E. Broadway, Port
Jefferson, NY, (631) 331-3277 www.maritimeexplorium.org.

Friday, June 10, 2016

School bells are chiming for the end of the season: Break out the Friendship Bracelets!

Over at the Rexlace Club we are running a special on the DIY Kit of your own: $2.00 off through June 30, 2016! This kit includes everything needed to make several kumihimo braided bracelets, as well as instructions to make the classic chevron and twisted helix.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

We're running a short sale on select Brain Noodle kits, now through June 30th, get $5.00 off at the Rexlace Club. This is an online sale exclusive. For additional details and to see the available discounted items, visit the Rexlace Club here, today!

Friday, June 3, 2016

Re-broadcasting on Hands On Crafts for Kids
website, watch episode 1708 - Outside and In. During this episode,
Katie will
show you how to knot a macrame hanger using cord and an ordinary sand
pale. This can be used as mudroom, playroom, or garage organization for
toys and sports equipment.This patterns can also be re-purposed with a standard potted plant to make a great plant hanger! This episode will be
airing
now through noon (EST) on June 10th on the Hands On Crafts homepage.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

We've got an AMY Sale to suite everyone: All 32 colors of this popular 2mm Craft Cord are each $1.00 off! This is an online order exclusive which you can find HERE at MacrameSuperStore.com. Sale ends June 30, 2016 at Midnight.